Loophole
by Hastur
Summary: Jerry finds a loophole in ancient wizarding law that might allow more than one of his kids to keep their powers. But it comes at a price. Will Justin and Alex be willing to pay it? Oneshot, complete, and a really predictable twist.


Jerry, Theresa, Alex and Justin were gathered into the wizard lair. Jerry had said he had something important to tell Alex and Justin about the wizard competition - an option they had, regarding it. It would be their decision, of course, but he wanted to discuss all the consequences and implications. Beyond that, he had said nothing until they got into the lair.

"OK," Jerry said, standing near the table, while Justin and Alex sat in the chair and the couch, respectively. Theresa stood near Jerry, looking nervous. "My analysis shows that one of you two is the most likely to win the wizard competition. Max is, well, less likely to be the winner. But you two are almost tied, completely. Now what if I told you there was a way you could both keep your powers?"

"What, and let her have magic?" Justin said. "Hello, why wouldn't I just win and take them all?"

"Hey! Dad just said we were almost tied."

"Yeah - I mean, not quite for the same reasons, but still. This way, you could _both_ keep your powers. Think about it... deep down, don't you love one another?"

Justin and Alex exchanged a brief glance.

"Well... I guess I should share," Justin admitted. Alex stuck her tongue out at him. "But what is this way, anyway?"

"Ah, glad you asked," Jerry said. A visible layer of sweat appeared on his face. "It's a loophole from ancient wizarding law! It's not used as often these days, but it's still invoked occasionally. See, you two could both keep your powers if one of you won, and then, ah... married the other."

Justin and Alex looked alarmed. Theresa let out a large sigh - she had already known about this, of course. Jerry grinned goofily, continuing to sweat.

"Let me explain - " Jerry said. "The law comes from ancient wizarding tradition. See, wizards like money, and power, and land, and titles, right? Well, they like to keep that kind of stuff in the family. The traditional way to keep such things in the family, in both wizard and mortal worlds, was to marry a relative. Sometimes even a sibling. Now, a wizard can't marry a mortal, so if one of a family's children won the competition, he or she couldn't marry their sibling, at least, not without giving up their powers. And you know how wizards are. We want our cake and to eat it, too. So wealthy and powerful families convinced the wizard council to treat sibling relationships as being one unit, thereby allowing them both to keep their powers. And of course, to overlook the whole incestuous bit, although the council never really cared about that. In fact, they were quite happy to use their considerable magical resources to fabricate false identities and the such, so that families could invoke this wizarding law even in mortal societies where such relationships were illegal."

"Plus, it's not like you'd have to act like husband and wife, right Jerry?" Theresa said.

"Oh, yeah, definitely! Due to societal changes, you could have an open relationship and still be by the books. Wizard law never cared about it, but wizard and especially mortal society did, back in the old days. They expected the two to act like husband and wife, including producing children," Jerry continued. "Not that you two would have to worry about that," he hurriedly added. "Powerful, old families usually did, though, and an extramarital affair would be a huge scandal."

"So there, you don't even have to, haha, sleep in the same bed," Theresa said, trying to laugh.

"Well...there is one thing," Jerry interjected. "The marriage does have to be consummated."

Everyone else adopted a look of shock and horror, because everyone in the room knew what that word meant.

"And, there aren't really any ways around that, since it's magic... I mean, you can use magic during the act to-"

"Whoa whoa, t.m.i. t.m.i..." Alex said. "I do not want to be discussing this about my brother, with my parents."

"Yeah, I'm with her," Justin said, trying to avoid looking at Alex, awkwardly.

"Well OK, but just remember that it would only be the once, and once again, it's your decision. Why don't you two think about it? Discuss it together, of course... I mean, I know it'll be awkward, but it could be pretty useful. So yeah... dismissed," Jerry finished.

Justin and Alex bolted out of their seats, and upstairs. They ran toward their rooms, but when they were outside Justin's door, both of them stopped. Justin went in, and Alex followed. He closed the door behind them.

"Uh... do you think they know?" Justin said, nervously. Alex put her arms around his neck.

"Heh, even if they did know, it looks like they're OK with it," she replied, leaning in. Justin kissed her - softly but deeply.

* * *

**A.N.: Don't worry, it's a oneshot and I'll be back to Adventures in a bit. I just thought that this would be a plausible loophole, given how wizards seem to be in the show. This solves a number of problems for them: They both get to be wizards, neither having to give up their powers to be with the other, _and_ it solves the bigger problem of the illegality of it, since the wizard council uses magic to fool mortal society. So yay, happy ending for our favorite incestuous wizards!**


End file.
